Nearly 250 prisoners will be released from Irish jails for Christmas – Justice Minister Alan Shatter has revealed.

The figure represents around 6% of the entire prison population.

And it is the largest number to be given the festive release in the last five years.

Minister Shatter said: “In addition to those being granted a period of Christmas temporary release, some prisoners who are very near the end of their sentences, will be granted full temporary release.”

The Department of Justice has refused to release a list of those who will be granted the temporary release.

However they did say that some other prisoners will also be facilitated with inter prison visiting during the Christmas period.

Of the 249 prisoners being released this year, approximately 75% are prisoners serving their sentences in our lower security institutions: the Training Unit Semi-Open Prison; Loughan House and Shelton Abbey Open Centres and the vast majority are on an enhanced regime level.

The statement reads: “The prisoners being released are nearing the end of their sentences and the overriding concern when considering the applications is the safety of the public.

“In addition to compassionate and humane considerations, other criteria taken into account include the nature and gravity of the offence, length of sentence served to date, prior record on temporary release, behaviour while in custody and previous criminal history.”

In general the periods of release vary from a few hours (in some cases accompanied by another responsible person) to up to seven nights.

All releases are subject to stringent conditions and any offender who breaks these conditions may be arrested and returned immediately to prison by the Gardaí.

The corresponding numbers released for Christmas in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 were 176, 134, 160 and 226 respectively.

The Irish Prison Service confirmed that all those released last December 2012 returned to prison.